FOX 2 WJBK-TV Detroit anchor and 100.3 WNIC-FM radio host Jay Towers says he is recovering after collapsing during a trip to Las Vegas over the weekend and sustaining a head injury that required stitches.
“The Vegas trip did not go as planned,” said Towers, who was in Nevada for the iHeartRadio Music Festival. He described the incident on Monday, Sept. 22, on his “Jay Towers in the Morning” radio show.
“At 10 (p.m.), I wake up out of a sound sleep and I don’t feel right,” he said. “I felt like my heart was beating really, really fast and my head felt really hazy. … I started to panic because it was a way I’ve never felt before — with the fast beating heart, really lightheaded — and all of a sudden, my shirt and everything was completely drenched. Like, soaked.”
Towers said he tried to call the front desk from his hotel room but lost consciousness.
“The next thing I know is — now I’m crawling on the floor, and I’m looking at my hand, and I have blood all over my hand,” he said. “So I passed out.”
He suffered a deep cut above his eyebrow and was taken to the hospital by paramedics, who told him his blood pressure was dangerously low.
“When you’re bleeding and wake up passed out on the floor and see blood everywhere and you don’t know what happened, it is real scary,” the media personality said.
Towers said he was dehydrated and had little sleep, food, or water in the days leading up to the incident. He emphasized that he does not use drugs and had not consumed any alcohol that day. He also said a heart issue appeared on his EKG, though he plans to withhold details until meeting with his cardiologist this week.
“I’ve never passed out before in my life. Never called 911. Never had stitches. Never even been in the ER or an ambulance,” Towers told the Detroit Free Press. “So for all of that to happen after I’d already gone to sleep was pretty alarming.”
Towers said he was disappointed to miss the festival and a planned photo shoot with Mariah Carey, but grateful for the help of his longtime friend, Jim Bowers, who lives in Nevada and met him at the hospital. Bowers is the co-host of their “Caped Wonder” Superman podcast.
After an initial flight delay and cancellation, Towers returned to metro Detroit on Saturday, Sept. 20.
“Really thankful to be OK, and so bummed I missed our iHeartRadio Music festival,” he said. “That’s a Vegas trip I won’t forget.”
Nour Rahal is a trending and breaking news reporter. Email her: nrahal@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @nrahal1.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jay Towers, FOX 2 anchor and WNIC radio host, recovering after head injury in Las Vegas
Reporting by Nour Rahal, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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